Dan Bretl’s Posts on ExposureI like color. I like to travel. I like my dogs. I take a lot of photos of various combinations of those things.https://danbretl.exposure.co/
Large-ScaleAfter a week in Iceland, we were starting to hit our stride. We'd made it about two thirds of the way around the ring road, and thankfully we still had some energy to keep going. After a night in a cabin in Reykjahlíð, our plan was to stay next in the small fishing town of Húsavík. We could have gotten there in less than an hour if we'd wanted, but we decided to take the much longer route through Jökulsárgljúfur National Park. We backtracked slightly on Highway 1 and then headed north on 862 to Selfoss (and it's much larger neighbor, Dettifoss).]]>
Sun, 23 Apr 2017 09:12:22 +0000https://danbretl.exposure.co/largescale
https://danbretl.exposure.co/largescale32 to 33Three years ago - just before my 30th birthday - I started a project taking selfies with my new 24mm f/1.4. At least once on every hike, sightseeing, or adventure, I'd turn the camera on myself and take the same arm's length centered self portrait. I liked the results from the first two years, so I've kept it going. The results are below - from day zero to day three hundred sixty five - providing a view of my year as a thirty two year old.The biggest change was that Catie and I took the plunge and bought a house. We now live in north Queen Anne (or very south Fremont, as I like to say), and we're enjoying a great deal more space, privacy, and outdoor time. Still, our Capitol Hill apartment served us well for our first three years in Seattle. I sort of miss it, but, not really at all.]]>
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 08:00:00 +0000https://danbretl.exposure.co/32-to-33
https://danbretl.exposure.co/32-to-33Fully SatisfiedOn our last full day in Iceland, we woke up in our cute and cozy Airbnb in Hvammstangi and had a delicious breakfast while we watched the waves through the dining room window and talked with our friendly host Oddný. She pulled out a map and showed us all the sights we should check out on the Vatnsnes peninsula. (She also told us about all the Icelandic music that we should download when we got home.) It was a great motivator and got us super excited about making the most of the day. We gave a fond farewell to Oddný and her family (and her dog and cat and kittens), threw our stuff back in the car, and headed north.]]>
Sun, 30 Apr 2017 21:14:48 +0000https://danbretl.exposure.co/fully-satisfied
https://danbretl.exposure.co/fully-satisfiedRain DayI'm not gonna lie - by our ninth day in Iceland, I was exhausted. We had made it around a majority of the ring road and kept quite busy along the way. So, I wasn't that upset when I woke up in the morning and saw that it was pouring rain - I figured it was as good an excuse as any to cut down on the activities and take it easy for a day. We took it slow in the morning, had some breakfast, and then set out without much of a plan (other than where we might try to go for lunch).]]>
Sun, 30 Apr 2017 10:25:55 +0000https://danbretl.exposure.co/rain-day
https://danbretl.exposure.co/rain-daySmall Town LivinOne of our main ambitions for northern Iceland was to get a taste for the small fishing towns in the area. You can cut across the country fairly quickly on the ring road if you want, but we decided to stick to the smaller roads along the coast instead.We spent the morning of our eighth day in Iceland walking around the docks of Húsavík (population 2182). It's a popular place for whale watching, and indeed we saw a tourist boat pulling out into the harbor under the beautiful blue sky. The most obvious landmark in town is Húsavíkurkirkja, a wooden church built near the water at the start of the twentieth century.]]>
Mon, 24 Apr 2017 03:05:52 +0000https://danbretl.exposure.co/small-town-livin
https://danbretl.exposure.co/small-town-livinAlien LandscapesOn our sixth day in Iceland, we reluctantly turned away from the lush green East Fjords and headed towards the northern part of the country. We had about two hundred kilometers (just a few hours) of the Ring Road to cover before we reached the area around Lake Mývatn. We didn't really stop along the way - I satisfied myself with a couple photos out car windows - so we had plenty of time to explore in the afternoon.]]>
Sat, 15 Apr 2017 04:25:52 +0000https://danbretl.exposure.co/alien-landscapes
https://danbretl.exposure.co/alien-landscapesNot Enough TimeAirbnb has become Catie's and my favorite style of accommodation while traveling, and there are plenty of great listings spread across Iceland. On our fifth morning, we woke up in an adorable little garden gnome house in the small town of Reyðarfjörður. When we went outside, we were even greeted by some rare blue skies! (They didn't last long.)]]>
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 23:29:23 +0000https://danbretl.exposure.co/not-enough-time
https://danbretl.exposure.co/not-enough-timeNo PlansOur first three days in Iceland, we had tried to stick to a hastily created and generally far too ambitious schedule of sights to see. By the fourth day, we were feeling exhausted and somewhat stressed by that sort of self-imposed pressure, so we decided in the morning to cut ourselves some slack and set out without any plan at all.This turned out to be an excellent idea. It afforded us the luxury of simply pulling off the side of the road whenever we saw a beautiful scene - something that seemed to occur roughly every five or ten minutes. I'm a little unclear on what is and isn't allowed as far as wandering through unmarked terrain in Iceland, so I apologize if we overstepped our bounds over the course of the day.]]>
Sun, 12 Mar 2017 08:12:52 +0000https://danbretl.exposure.co/no-plans
https://danbretl.exposure.co/no-plans31 to 32Two years ago - just before my 30th birthday - I started a project taking selfies with my new 24mm f/1.4. At least once on every hike, sightseeing, or adventure, I'd turn the camera on myself and take the same arm's length centered self portrait. I liked the results from the first year, so I kept it going in the next. The results are below - from day zero to day three hundred sixty five - providing a view of my year as a thirty one year old.]]>
Thu, 16 Feb 2017 13:22:40 +0000https://danbretl.exposure.co/31-to-32
https://danbretl.exposure.co/31-to-32A Meandering Road to LónBy the morning of our third day in Iceland, our heads were already spinning from everything we'd seen so far. We needed a little time to to relax, so we took a short diversion to our first hot pot at Hoffell. Hot pots in Iceland come in all shapes and sizes - some are huge and well developed and others are tiny and remote. Hoffell is the kind where the pools themselves are lined with plastic tubs. This maybe takes a bit of the fantasy out of it but does help to keep you clean (as we'd learn some days later). There were four pools (of varying temperatures) spaced around a rocky hill, and we mostly had the place all to ourselves. The natural hot spring water felt great, and the surrounding glaciated hills provided a nice backdrop.]]>
Sun, 22 Jan 2017 06:47:48 +0000https://danbretl.exposure.co/a-meandering-road-to-lon
https://danbretl.exposure.co/a-meandering-road-to-lon